Billion-Dollar Attack Sub Sidelined for Two Years Over Shoddy Work

The USS Minnesota, a Virginia-class attack submarine, was commissioned in 2013. When it was delivered 11 months ahead of schedule, the sub was hailed as a minor miracle in military procurement, which is typically after-deadline and over-budget. Since then, however, the Minnesota has languished in shipyards, the victim of shoddy work and deceptive practices, as the Navy struggles to make the ship seaworthy.

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According to the Navy Times, last August officials discovered a broken elbow pipe installed on the $2.7 billion attack boat. The $10,000 pipe had been tampered with to make it appear to be within specifications. Electric Boat, a shipyard run by General Dynamics, looked at the workmanship and determined that unauthorized welds had been made to make the pipes appear normal. An investigation of the rest of the Navy's Virginia-class submarine fleet uncovered two other ships equipped with the same shoddy parts.

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The elbow pipe was part of the submarine's nuclear propulsion system, and although failure would not result in an incident involving the reactor, it would affect the reactor's ability to provide steam—and thus propulsion—to the vessel's engines. A failed joint would also vent steam inside the submarine, a hazard to sailors and shipboard electronics.

The company that supplied the pipes—Nuflo, a defense contractor based in Jacksonville, FL—is now the subject of a U.S. Department of Justice investigation.